If you’ve ever had a pen mysteriously wander away from your desk, and then you had to write with a poor substitute (the kind you might find at a bank or with some company’s phone number on it), you know how important it is to have a quality pen.

With its fast-drying ink, this pen is our go-to for everyday writing on any kind of paper.

This pen is as slim as a typical ballpoint, and you can switch between writing with black, blue, and red ink—without having to carry multiple pens.

If you experience hand strain or fatigue while writing with slim pens, this pen’s large, soft grip and balanced weight distribution can make writing more comfortable.

This rollerball pen is great for fine lettering or drawing, and it costs less than similar pens. It doesn’t dry as quickly as our other picks, though, so it’s not the best choice for lefties.

You save $4 (40%)

This pen produces dark, crisp lines, and it’s available in a wide range of colors and tip sizes to suit various writing preferences.

This pen has an understated, single-color barrel design. It writes smoothly, with vivid inks and very thin lines.

This pen’s needlepoint tip produces precise, consistent lines with archival-quality ink.

These pens are great for writing on all types of surfaces, including slick or cheap paper, which inkier pens tend to bleed through or smudge.

Rollerballs provide the smoothest writing. The free-flowing ink doesn’t require a lot of pressure, so the pen glides across the page.

Gel pens are best for writing precisely, and they come in a rainbow of ink colors. A subset of rollerballs, gel pens write smoothly but typically with thinner lines.

Fineliners’ needlepoint tips make them a great choice for detailed sketches and crisp writing, with some friction against paper.

The good news is you don’t have to spend a lot to get a pen that’s worthy of your signature. After researching 62 pens and writing zealously with 37 of them, we have recommendations for ballpoint, rollerball, and fineliner pens that are affordable and satisfying to write with.

Our picks include:

With its fast-drying ink, this pen is our go-to for everyday writing on any kind of paper.

In most situations, the Uni-ball Jetstream RT is the best pen for the job.

It dries quickly, so it’s great for lefties and anyone who’s concerned about smudging (especially when writing on slick paper, labels, or receipts). Thanks to its “hybrid” ink, the Jetstream RT produces the darkest lines of any ballpoint pen we tested. And the ink flows out smoothly and evenly without skipping—like a gel pen, but with the quick-drying advantages of a ballpoint. It’s water-resistant, fade-resistant, and formulated to resist check washing, too.

A Wirecutter pick since 2013, the Jetstream RT comes in a variety of tip widths and colors. And our testers found that it felt and looked better than other, more-plasticky ballpoint pens.

Style: ballpointTip width tested: 0.7 mmWidths available: 0.7 mm, 1.0 mmColors: black, blue, red; RT BLX version: blue-black, brown-black, green-black, red-black

Advertisement

This pen is as slim as a typical ballpoint, and you can switch between writing with black, blue, and red ink—without having to carry multiple pens.

If you like to color-code your notes or journal entries, the Uni Jetstream Slim Multi-Color is a thin, handy alternative to having several pens cluttering your desk or bag.

This pen is the same shape and size as our top pick, the Jetstream RT. But the Jetstream Slim Multi-Color is much slimmer than most multicolor pens, which tend to have chunkier barrels. The knocks (the buttons at the top of the pen that make the pen nibs retract) operate smoothly and with a satisfying click.

The Jetstream Slim Multi-Color has a rubber grip, so it’s pleasant to hold. And this pen comes with the same refillable smooth ink found in other Jetstream pens.

The ink refills are smaller than those in a regular Jetstream pen, though, so they’re a bit less cost-effective. But if you often write in different colors, we think the convenience is worth it.

Style: ballpointTip width tested: 0.5 mmWidths available: 0.38 mm, 0.5 mmColors: black, blue, red, green

If you experience hand strain or fatigue while writing with slim pens, this pen’s large, soft grip and balanced weight distribution can make writing more comfortable.

Among pens designed to reduce writing stress, the Pilot Dr. Grip Center of Gravity is the best we’ve tested. Our testers—including a retired medical professional with arthritis—found the wide grip easy to hold, and this pen had the best balance of softness and firmness.

What sets this pen apart the most from other ergonomic pens is its weight distribution: It’s balanced closer to the tip, so writing is effortless and requires less pressure.

The Center of Gravity is also just a great pen in general. Its hybrid ink combines the long-lasting elements of a ballpoint pen with the dark, vibrant lines of a gel pen.

Style: ballpointTip width tested: 1.0 mmWidths available: 0.7 mm (fine), 1.0 mm (medium)Colors: black, blue

This rollerball pen is great for fine lettering or drawing, and it costs less than similar pens. It doesn’t dry as quickly as our other picks, though, so it’s not the best choice for lefties.

You save $4 (40%)

If you like dark lines, prefer a bit of resistance from your paper when writing and drawing, or have handwriting that produces especially small letters, consider the Pilot Precise V5 RT.

Some experts—and most of our testers—preferred this pen’s finer point compared with other rollerballs’ points, which produce wetter, thicker lines.

Although the Precise V5 RT doesn’t dry as quickly as the Jetstream, and therefore can smudge (not ideal for lefties), it performs well on most paper. It’s also the least expensive pen we recommend, on a per-pen basis.

Style: rollerballTip width tested: 0.5 mmWidths available: 0.5 mm (V5), 0.7 mm (V7)Colors: black, blue, green, pink, purple, red, turquoise, orange, yellow, lime green, navy, burgundy, hunter green, caramel, periwinkle, teal

This pen produces dark, crisp lines, and it’s available in a wide range of colors and tip sizes to suit various writing preferences.

If you like writing with dark, vivid lines and can’t bear any smudging, the Pentel EnerGel RTX is our gel pen pick.

In our tests, the EnerGel RTX wrote smoothly—never skipping or smudging—and its needle-point tip was as precise as that of the Pilot Precise V5 RT. Available ink colors include options we haven’t seen often with other pens, including gray.

The EnerGel RTX has a slightly thicker barrel and grip than the Jetstream and the Precise V5 RT, so some people might find it more comfortable to hold. But this pen’s bright blue body and colored grip section are pretty flashy-looking. If you prefer a more-incognito pen, consider the similarly performing Uni-ball Signo RT1.

Style: rollerball with gel inkTip width tested: 0.5 mmWidths available: 0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, 1.0 mmColors: black, blue, red, brown, orange, sky blue, green, pink, lime green, violet, magenta, gray, lilac, yellow, turquoise

This pen has an understated, single-color barrel design. It writes smoothly, with vivid inks and very thin lines.

A pen’s aesthetics can contribute to the overall writing experience. And this was confirmed in our testing: Several of our testers preferred the Uni-ball Signo RT1 to the Pentel EnerGel RTX due to the Signo RT1’s understated (albeit all-plastic) design.

In our tests, the Signo RT1’s performance was nearly identical to that of the EnerGel and the Precise V5 RT (with just a bit of smudging when we forced it). The main difference between these pens is how they look, plus their available colors and tip sizes.

Style: rollerball with gel inkTip width tested: 0.5 mmWidths available: 0.28 mm, 0.38 mm, 0.5 mmColors: black, blue, blue black, light blue, violet, green, lime green, red, orange, baby pink

This pen’s needlepoint tip produces precise, consistent lines with archival-quality ink.

The Sakura Pigma Micron writes smoothly and predictably without skipping, feathering, or bleeding. Often used by artists, this technical pen can be used for detailed drawings as well as any archival-quality handwriting projects, such as journaling or scrapbooking. Its pigment-based ink is fade-, water-, and chemical-resistant.

Unlike other fineliners and felt-tipped pens we tested, the Micron offers pleasant feedback when writing on typical paper without being scratchy, and the barrel was the most comfortable to hold. You don’t need to apply a lot of pressure to get satisfying, dark and crisp lines.

Style: finelinerTip width tested: 0.25 mm, 0.3 mm, 0.35 mm, 0.4 mm, 0.5 mmWidths available: 0.15 mm, 0.2 mm, 0.45 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.7 mmColors: black